Viktor Postol

Early career

Postol's first significant title fight came in December 2011 against Karen Tevosyan for the vacant WBC Silver International light welterweight title. Postol managed to win via unanimous decision to claim the belt. He then successfully defended it against Yvan Mendy and DeMarcus Corley. After vacating the belt, Postol met in the ring with American Hank Lundy for the vacant WBC International light welterweight title and achieved a victory. Before vacating the belt, Postol had managed to retain it against Ignacio Mendoza.

In May 2014, Postol defeated Turkish boxer Selçuk Aydın in WBC title eliminator and earned a mandatory title shot against champion Danny García.

Postol vs. Matthysse

It was announced that Postol would fight Lucas Matthysse (37-3, 34 KOs) in a scheduled 12 round bout for the WBC light welterweight title vacated by Danny Garcia in order to move up to the welterweight division in August, at the StubHub Center in Carson, California on October 3, 2015. The camps made a deal just in time to avoid a WBC purse bid scheduled for Monday.

After waiting 17 months for a world title shot, Postol outboxed and outpunched Matthysse before knocking him out with a right hand to the eye in the 10th round to punctuate a superb performance and win a vacant 140-pound world title before 7,025 at the StubHub Centerr. Round after round, Postol attacked Matthysse to the body and kept his jab in his face. Matthysse landed a few hard right hands that rocked Postol during the middle rounds, but not enough to do any serious damage. In the 10th round, Postol nailed Matthysse on the left eye with a clean right hand and he went down. Matthysse got to one knee, but with his head down and dabbing at his eye, referee Reiss counted him out at 2 minutes, 58 seconds. At the time of the knockout, Postol led 86-85 on two scorecards and Matthysse surprisingly led 86-85 on the other. According to CompuBox punch statistics, Postol landed 113 of 509 punches (22 percent) and Matthysse connected on 96 of 281 (34 percent).

Postol vs. Crawford

On May 3, 2016 it was finally confirmed that Postol and Terence Crawford had officially signed a contract for a highly anticipated super-lightweight unification fight on July 23 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Both fighters entered the ring with a matched record of 28 wins, no losses. Both men also entered the MGM Grand Garden Arena for the first time in their respective careers. Crawford won by unanimous decision and unified two light welterweight world titles before a crowd of 7,027. Crawford also claimed the vacant Lineal and Ring Magazine titles. Crawford scored two flash knockdowns in the fifth round, won going away on all three scorecards 118-107, 118-107 and 117-108. ESPN.com also scored the fight 118-107 for Crawford. Postol resorted to rabbit punching in the 11th round. He nailed Crawford with a right hand behind the head, for which Postol was penalized one point, adding to Crawford's advantage. Postol's purse for the fight was $675,000.

Comeback trail

After nearly 14 months out, Postol would make his ring return in his native Ukraine at the AKKO International in Kiev. Ringtv announced that Postol, who was still ranked by the WBC at #3, would fight inexperienced Uzbekistani boxer Jamshidbek Najmiddinov (14-0, 9 KOs) on September 16, 2017. Postol explained his time away from boxing, “After the Crawford fight, I took one month rest and then I got back to the gym. I have been ready to fight within all that time, with any opponent, but the question why I was absent should be directed to my manager.” His manager Vadim Kornilov answered, “We have been looking for the right opportunities for Postol in the United States and it’s been hard to get a TV spot for a non-U.S. fighter lately. We hope to make up for it in the next year.” Postol had appeared on HBO a total of three times in the past. Kornilov further explained that even when Postol was winning his fights, the possibility of finding TV opportunities were still slim. Postol won a hard fought fight, settling for a unanimous decision against Najmiddinov. Throughout the 10 rounds, Najmiddinov moved around the ring, throwing minimal punches. The opening rounds started with Postol controlling the fight and Najmiddinov swinging, but mostly missing Postol with counters. In round 5, Postol was floored with a left hook and hit the canvas hard. Postol beat the count, but on wobbly legs. Najmiddinov looked for the finish, but Postol survived the round. Najmiddinov couldn't capitalise on the knockdown as Postol regained his composure and dominated the remainder of the fight. The final judges scorecards read 98-92, 97-92, and 97-92 in favour of Postol.